Burn Injuries due to Someone Else’s Negligence

Burn is a very common type of household injury besides cuts and falls, and it can be very painful, especially if it damages the layer beneath the skin where the sensory or afferent nerves (which convey sensations of heat and cold) are located.

Estimates by the National Burn Repository (NBR) of the American Burn Association (ABA) show about 450,000 burn patients receiving treatment in emergency rooms and hospitals each year (not included in this number are those treated in community health centers and private medical offices). Roughly 3,400 of these patients die due to infections or other complications resulting from the burn.

From the 450,000 burn cases, 73% occurs in the home, 8% in workplaces, 5% happens on street or highways, another 5% takes place in recreational or sport centers, while the remaining 9% happens in other places. Majority of the burn victims are children and senior citizens, while its identified causes are fire or flame, scalds, direct contact with a hot source, electricity, chemicals and others.

Third-degree burn is the most serious kind of burn because of the extent and depth of the injury it causes (some burn classifications, however, wherein a fourth kind of burn injury in included, state that the most serious kind of burn is fourth degree burn); yet, despite its severity, pain is no longer felt by the burn victim because it damages the nerves, along with the muscles and bones.

There are cases wherein the part of the body that has been affected by this type of burn will need to be amputated to save the person from any possibility of further harm; however, there are instances when the body becomes too weak to bear the pain or fight off any resulting complications, resulting to the death of the person.

Unbearable pain or death – these are sometimes the consequences of burn injuries. But what is infuriating and painful about accidents that lead to this type of injuries is that in many instances these are results of people’s careless or negligent acts, making these totally preventable. Under the law, wherever negligence is a factor in an accident-causing injury, the victim has the right to file a civil lawsuit against the liable party to seek the compensation that he or she may be entitled to receive. According to the website of the Chicago personal injury lawyers at Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, the results of accidents can not be undone. However, under the American justice system, victims have the right to take legal action against the liable party to make them answer to the consequences of their irresponsible actions.

Civil lawsuits take time, besides being complicated. These also require forms and (medical and other legal) documents that need to be filed and submitted within a specified statutory time. During the litigation itself, evidences and arguments that will establish the defendant’s real accountability are necessary, as well as the computation of all the damages suffered by the victim which the proven liable party will have to compensate.